Page 100 of This Shattered Star

Her fingers squeezed. “Me neither.”

I wrenched my attention away from the sky. She beamed at me in a smile that displayed all her teeth. “At least we’re in this together, right?”

Realization hit me square in the chest, further cracking the barrier around my heart. Or what little was left of it. One more hit, and it would burst irreparably.

The starsdidsend guidance.

But it wasn’t in the form of a glittery compass, or a cryptic message inked on paper.

It was in the form of three traitors to the crown.

“Right. Together.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

We followed lit torches deep into the forest, their flames casting writhing shadows through the trees. A strong odor of decay walked alongside us although its source nowhere to be seen. Our path was completely clear, the branches above our heads devoid of any trace of life.

My blades were ready, their edges glinting as I held them out in front of me.

Kodhan’s fingers twitched, barely reining in his own fire. A faint breeze tickled the back of my neck, courtesy of Brannon fighting to grapple his wind, and Gideon had unsheathed his sword since the moment we broke the tree line.

Theia held her head high, eyes distant and unfocused. Likely casting her magic out in a wide net of sorts, testing for approaching danger. She said nothing, which pointed to good news, but the slight pinch between her brows was unnerving.

Dirt crunched under our boots, the only sound other than our breathing and the swishing of the branches above. They’d abruptly stopped chanting. Like they knew they’d already won.

No roaring crowd echoed around us. No sign that anyone had come through the forest. Not a single footprint marred the smooth dirt. Though I swore I could hear faint residues of chatter interwoven throughout the clacking of the branches. And the moon had made a rare appearance, cresting high in the center of the sky, its beams pooling between gaps in the trees like spotlights.

My grip tightened around the hilts of my daggers as we reached a clearing the size of a small meadow. Gideon was right, four remaining survivors stood at varying edges of the clearing with guards at their backs.

Lachlan and Elias spotted us immediately. Their slow, sinister smiles promised nothing but slow and unending pain.

But their smiles meant nothing. They were already dead men.

My gaze slid to the remaining team. I didn’t recognize them from Strength, nor did I remember seeing them during the last celebration. But slipping through the cracks oftentimes proved to be one of the greatest strategies. They’d made it this far, after all.

The two women huddled together, whispering. One of them glanced nervously over her shoulder. Her ally nodded vigorously, speaking too quickly for me to catch any of her words.

Those two would be the ones to look out for. Quiet cunning was far more lethal than brash violence.

A wooden watchtower, almost as tall as the trees, peered down on us all. Lined with a swaying rope ladder with fifty rungs, crooked enough that one misstep could have one soaring towards the ground. Thin railings circled the square lookout at the top, looking ready to break under the barest of pressure. And if one did not have sufficient proficiency with wind, falling from that watchtower meant a sure, immediate death.

Kodhan pointed to the square lookout. “Look. There’s something hanging from the top.”

My stomach plummeted. Small, blurry outlines could be made out past the railings. I couldn’t quite make out anything other than their oval shapes, but their colors were stark, glittering under the light of the moon. Ruby, emerald, sapphire, a translucent quartz. Amethyst.

“They’re for us,” I guessed. “Each gem represents an element.”

There were eight hanging items in total, an equal amount of color for each person’s strongest element. Two for fire, wind, and earth. One for water. Then there was mine. It didn’t take any questioning to know what the color was for.

“Clever girl.” Maverick’s voice jarred through me, like he spoke from mere inches away. But he was nowhere to be seen.

“Another trial without spectators?” Brannon pondered out loud.

“Incorrect.”

Kodhan whirled, snarling as he scanned the trees. He shot a single arrow of flame into the forest, its light revealing nothing but root and grass.

“I can’t feel them,” Theia muttered frantically, low enough that I could barely hear her. “I can’t feel any of them.”